Winter King
by NoSignalBlueScreen
Summary: A challenge from a list of mine. I decided to try to write a oneshot about it. The natural portals that form in and outside the Ghost Zone are mysterious indeed, you never know where you'll end up.


**Hello there everyone. This is just a little one shot to bring attention to the story challenges listed on my profile. One of my readers offered a few suggestions for the list and one in particular for the Danny Phantom fandom caught my eye. I knew I didn't have the time for writing a full story as everyone well knows, but I did have the urge to at least do a Oneshot to maybe stimulate minds.**

 **Without further ado,**

 **The Challenge by MagnusVolcanus… Winter King.**

zzz

"For the last time, Tucker, turn off the music!"

"Why!?"

"Because I need to be able to hear everything and make sure no one is trying to sneak up on us." Danny hissed back with a bit of impatience.

Tucker sighed and clicked the off button on his PDA. "Fine."

"Thank you!" Sam exclaimed. "You do realize that no one in this vehicle likes that techno music you listen to?"

"Yeah and everyone in here likes your dark moody stuff," Tucker commented back.

Jazz blinked watching as the three longtime friends bickered at each other. She let out a sigh as the Speeder coasted through the Ghost Zone. It was strange sometimes, how in sync those three could be. It had started with Danny being his typical paranoid self when they'd devised a plan to get the elder Fentons out of the house for a period of time so they could visit the Ghost Zone to see Frostbite. Now, Danny's general anxiety and irritability had spread to his friends which had resulted in them getting snippety with each other. Then of course Jazz had made the huge mistake of mentioning the idea of Danny finally telling their parents the truth to make things easier and her little brother had gone on a tangent on the many reasons he shouldn't, including many unpleasant things that only Danny's mind could conjure.

"Only about five minutes now," Danny remarked, turning the controls only slightly.

"I feel like you said that an hour ago," Tucker groaned.

Jazz zoned out again as she heard them start into some discussion again, only this time it seemed to be more relaxing and Danny even laughed at something Sam had said. Clueless. She glanced out the window she was next to and noticed something in their path that Danny hadn't taken note of since he was now amicably talking with Sam and Tucker.

"Uh, guys?"

"You really think that's how it works? My core has taken over half the work of my heart? That's why my heart doesn't beat as often?"

"That or maybe it even beats itself."

"Ghost cores don't beat, Tucker."

"Hey, Danny's a Halfa, remember? It could be different for him."

"I say we wait to see what it is that Frostbite actually figured out about my physiology."

"Wow big words there Fenton."

"Hey!"

"GUYS!" Jazz finally screeched and they all looked back at her only to see her finger pointed ahead of them. Their faces whipped back to the forward position in time to see a large green portal forming in front of them.

"Oh no no no no no no!" Danny cried out and tried to turn the Specter Speeder, only to find that the portal's gravitional and polar pull was drawing them in. If he could've turned the ship around then the full power of the thrusters might have been able to get them out, but the drag was too great to turn the ship fully around.

"It's always something!" Tucker yelled out just as their ship was yanked through the portal

zzz

 **?.?.?**

The first thing Danny noticed was that he was very very cold and that was something he wasn't used to, since he'd gotten control of his cyrokinesis. He was almost never cold; even during the winter, he didn't require more than a light sweater on the worst days. Right now, he was shivering.

"Saaa-saa-sam? Tah tah Tucker? Jaaa jaazzz?" Danny asked trying to force his words through chattering teeth. The Halfa looked around and noticed his friends still fastened to their seats. Danny reached down and tried to unlatch his seat belt only to find it was jammed. Using some quick thinking, he formed a small blade of ghost ice and slashed himself free. He then moved to his friends, doing the same after checking their belts. He then looked in the back a found a large wool blanket to wrap around them; he could last a lot longer in the cold being a half-ghost and also once he transformed into Phantom, his cold resistance would only increase.

He took a quick look around to see where they were and noticed that ice and snow were everywhere and Danny was thinking that perhaps they had somehow in fact gotten to the Far Frozen.

"Daa daanny?"

Danny whipped his head around and saw that Sam's eyes had cracked open.

"What happened, where are we, and why is it so cold?"

Danny blinked and then shook his head. "I don't know, don't know, and don't know." He moved over and tried rubbing the wool blanket over Sam's arms, which of course unbeknownst to him, made the goth blush. At one point they even locked eyes before Tucker's snore broke the silence and the spell over the two.

Danny laughed a bit nervously and nudged Tucker. "Come on, man. Wake up."

Tucker's eyes blinked open slowly and then he flinched and started to shiver. "Dang it's cold."

"Everyone oookka ka kay?" Jazz asked, accidentally chattering her teeth together.

"Yeah, everyone's fine, Jazz. I don't know where we are though."

"Looks like the Far Frozen," Tucker commented, looking through the window and seeing the ice and snow.

"Yeah I thought that but… I mean that portal." Danny huffed. "We need to look around."

"Right, let's go." Sam nodded.

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker had trouble getting up, while still trying to cover themselves with the large blanket, but eventually they stumbled out of the crashed Speeder and onto the snowy ground. Danny followed right after and transformed as he exited the vehicle.

"Danny…"

Danny perked up and looked at his friends and sister to see they were staring ahead, blankly.

"What is it?"

"Look."

Danny turned and looked ahead to see something quite horrifying.

It was Amity Park, completely frozen over and devoid of any sign of life. The buildings were covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. It was like viewing their home through a mirror maze. All of the town, frozen in time practically and glittering in the small bit of light coming through the gray clouds overhead.

"What? I mean… how long were we out?" Sam asked in shock.

Tucker blinked and he looked closer at his PDA. "It says only about thirty minutes. That can't be right. What kind of ghost or weapon or whatever could've done this that quickly?"

Jazz shook her head and tried to gain some sense of control. "Okay, Danny. Can you fly up and see if there's anything that looks out of place?"

Danny glanced at her before nodding. "Alright, give me a second." Danny looked towards the sky and then shot into the air, unsettling a bit of snow around the group. The three humans watched their friend go higher and higher until he stopped and then viewed the town at a three-hundred and sixty degree angle. Danny then came back down with a troubled and thoughtful look on his face.

"The only thing around here that looks weird is the giant ice castle thing in the distance."

"A giant ice castle?" Tucker asked, making sure he heard right.

"Yep. At least it's either that or a giant ice sculpture of a lotus," Danny replied.

Jazz nodded. "Let's get moving."

Everyone nodded silently at that and started after Danny, who floated ahead of them in the direction he'd seen the castle.

zzz

 **Amity Park? Ice Castle.**

Eventually the small group walked to the far side of the town, the area that was closest to the docks and the water. There the other three got to see the castle up close. It was taller than most things in Amity Park, with several layers of icy spines one after the other, indeed creating the appearance of a large lotus. Tucker mentioned that it looked like an Ice Citadel from a MMORPG he'd played recently.

They noticed there was a slight opening in the structure and the group of teens decided to enter. With Sam, Jazz, and Tucker still huddled together in the blanket and starting to loose feeling in their legs, Team Phantom moved into the fortress.

If the town had looked like a mirror maze, it simply paled in comparison to the effect the inside of the citadel possessed. The group walked for what seemed like a long while, winding through the icy rooms and hallways, until they made their way to the middle room. By this time, everyone was shivering hard, even Danny was starting to have a few tremors. Across the room they all noticed a tall figure, who was sitting. A large white cloak draped over his shoulders and down the back of the chair he was using, obscuring everything from the shoulders down. His hair was stark white and had many small icy spines hanging from hairs. The most intriguing thing about the person though was the fact that he had blue skin.

"Hello?" Jazz suddenly asked, creating an echo in the room. Everyone noticed the figure stiffen in surprise. He slowly turned his head to look at them from the side, revealing part of his face.

Sam, who was on the outside of the group with the blanket, released her corner with shock, letting it drop to he ground. "Oh God."

Danny and everyone else was gapping in confusion.

The figure before them was none other than a taller, older Danny Phantom.

"What…" Phantom questioned and stood fully before flicking his gaze between all the people there.

"Danny?" Tucker asked.

Phantom started to breath in a more rapid pace, though his green eyes and blue skin gave them the frightening impression that maybe he didn't need to breathe anymore.

"How are you-?"

The younger Danny growled in frustration. "The portal, we must've gone through a portal that transversed time. You know? Like that fiasco with the Infi-map?" He asked his friends and sister.

Phantom let out a trembling breath and spoke again. "That has to be it… There's no other way."

The four teens looked over at the older male who gazed sadly at them and more disturbingly, with an empty stare.

Jazz walked forward, to get closer and they all saw Phantom flinch. Eventually they drifted closer to him and Jazz tried to reach out and touch him. Phantom's eyes widened and his eyes glowed a bright green.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Phantom roared and a wave of ice energy burst out from his body. Danny reacted quickly and threw a shield of ecto-energy around the group. What the younger Phantom wasn't expecting was for his shield to get a plaster casting or an ice casting. He dropped his shield and saw there was a solid dome of ice around them. Danny furrowed his brows and punched the casting only to cry out in pain.

"Ow!"

The four flinched when they heard the older Phantom's voice. "I'm sorry… are any of you hurt?"

Jazz answered back. "No we're fine. Trapped, but fine." After a moment she spoke again, "Tell us what happened to you, Danny. Why is Amity covered in ice? Where is everyone?"

Phantom voice came again after a brief sigh. "You've traveled a thousand years into the future."

Danny paused from his attempts to morph and use the ecto-ice around them so that he could free his group. "A thousand…"

"Dude…" Tucker whispered.

"Danny." Jazz sighed.

The younger Danny swallowed thickly. Why would he still be around after so long? Had he just not passed on? Had he continued as a ghost long after everyone he loved had gone?

"Why are you still here?" Sam asked softly.

Danny eventually was able to open a small hole in the ice shield and everyone could see the older ghost staring out of a large window-like crack in his fortress. "It happened so very long ago. If only I'd been more honest… then this all could've perhaps been avoided." Phantom closed his eyes for a long moment before talking again. "I had been out patrolling and had gotten pretty beat-up one night. It was just that one mistake that cost us all so much. Mom and dad… I still don't blame them. I'm not angry or even furious. I feel nothing. I'm numb."

Phantom turned and drifted closer to them. "They captured me with the help of the Guys in White that night. Of course dad was more than willing to hand me over to his heroes."

Jazz's hands shot to her mouth, Sam fell to her knees, Tucker's mouth was wide with shock, and Danny just stood, dumbly staring at his supposed older self. How many older selves did he have? Well maybe Clockwork's more recent talk with him about dimensions with every possible outcome weren't just science fiction.

"The Guys in White tested on me until they succeeded in killing my human half."

"They didn't stop before then!?" Jazz shouted in horror.

Phantom merely gazed at her blankly. "No. They didn't. Even after I'd died a horrible death and would be unable to find peace or fulfill my obsession because of the pain and regret in my heart, they didn't stop. Even after my parents finally found out the truth and tried, with everyone, to get me back, they didn't stop. They didn't stop until I lost all control."

Phantom placed a hand on the ice chair he'd sat in before. "I just wanted the pain to go away, but I didn't want to turn into Dan. That fear was still deeply ingrained within me after my death. So instead of feeling anger and frustration at loosing everything, I just wanted to no longer feel my pain or anything. My core answered my wish, expelling my essence into everything around me. Everything I touched or anything that touched me, was frozen solid."

Phantom gestured to the ice all around them. "And so I went into isolation for hundreds of years after my escape. With time, my ice core grew so powerful from my heart's deepest desire to feel no more pain, that the earth froze over. Everyone moved underground several hundred years ago… The surface belongs to me." Phantom glanced over at a large ice telescope on the other side of the room. The ghost sighed. "Yeah… the surface is all mine…" A hint of sad emptiness tainted his voice as Phantom trailed off.

Sam finally took a deep breath and tried to collect herself for the sake of the others. "Do you know how we could get to the Ghost Zone? We need to get to Clockwork and get back to our time."

Phantom glanced at the four people and nodded. "I can send you there." Phantom waved his hand and the remaining ice around Team Phantom disappeared into the ground. He then waved his hand once more, forming a large tear into the Ghost Zone. "This portal should lead right to Clockwork's."

Danny blinked in surprise. "You can control where it goes too?"

Phantom frowned. "Yeah I practiced. Time is all I have now."

Everyone frowned as they walked to the portal. Jazz turned around one more time to look at the older Danny. "I'm sorry things turned out the way they did."

Phantom didn't smile or frown he merely tilted his head slightly and looked out the window one last time. "Yes. I am too… I think. I honestly don't know anymore."

Jazz didn't get to respond to him before she was yanked through the portal by her time's brother's hand.

Phantom lowered his head in silence as a new layer of icy spines formed around his citadel separating him just a little bit more from the world outside.

zzz

 **Clockwork's Tower. 1000 years in the future.**

Everyone hit the ground inside the tower at the same time and the others dropped the blanket entirely.

"Well at least it's not as cold now, huh?" Tucker asked nervously.

Sam nodded. "Yeah," she replied absently. Jazz noticed Danny facing away from them and she walked over.

"Danny, you okay?" Jazz asked and placed both hands on hims shoulders as he turned to face her.

He looked into her eyes before he hugged her tightly. "I guess the world will never be ready for a freak of nature like me…"

Sam and Tucker's heads immediately whipped up to look at their friend and Jazz stared at him with pity and surprise.

"No Danny. No. It was just a misunderstanding…" Jazz trailed off, holding his face, trying to meet her brother's eyes again, but they were hidden under his bangs.

"Indeed, Daniel. Like I've said before, the future is never set in stone."

Everyone looked over to see Clockwork moving through a nearby doorway.

"Clockwork…" Sam murmured.

Clockwork frowned slightly. "There are all kinds of outcomes and I try to avoid the worst ones for the sake of everyone." He glanced at Daniel. "May I speak with you alone for a moment, Daniel?"

Danny nodded and parted from his sister to walk over across the room. When he'd reached Clockwork, the time keeper spoke, "Destiny is a funny thing, Daniel. But the most important thing about destiny is that it is intertwined with the destinies of others."

Danny furrowed his brows and glanced at Clockwork. "I… is that all?"

Clockwork nodded calmly. "Yes. Take your friends through my middle viewing window and you'll be back in my tower in your time. From there you can go home."

Danny sighed and nodded before walking over and talking to everyone; they then waved to Clockwork before disappearing through the portal and arriving right back in the same place with Clockwork waiting in the same location. At first they thought they'd done something wrong, until Clockwork had smiled, nodded, and wished them a good day before disappearing.

The group then had to travel home through the Zone without the Specter Speeder since it was still crashed in the future. They would have to say something to the Fentons about it crashing in the Ghost Zone when they'd accidentally hit something and distracting Mr. Fenton with the prospect of building a better Speeder always seemed to lessen any punishment.

While they traveled back towards home, Danny was in deep thought the whole way. Jazz tried on several occasions to talk to Danny about his feelings, but Sam and Tucker convinced her to leave him alone for a while.

zzz

 **Fenton Lab. Present Day.**

The group of four teens arrived in the lab. After explaining to a worried Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, that they'd been goofing around all day and nowhere near the lab, Sam and Tucker had gone home. Danny and Jazz discussed briefly in Danny's room their final plan of what lie to tell their parents when they eventually noticed the Speeder was missing; they also noted that they couldn't visit Frostbite until after a new Speeder was built. It was during this time that Danny zoned out and looked out of his bedroom window.

"Danny, I know Sam and Tucker can read you almost better than anyone, but are you really okay?" Jazz asked.

Danny frowned slightly. "Gee I don't know, Jazz. Within the last year, I find out my parent's best friend from collage is an evil megalomaniac, the government probably will never see me as a citizen if I revealed to many people what I am, In one future _I_ become the evil megalomaniac and destroy and kill anything in my path and in another future I'm tortured beyond my limit to where my ghost has permanently frozen himself and the world in an icy embrace to keep himself from feeling anymore emotion ever again! How do you think I feel!?" Danny yelled out a bit loudly.

Jazz looked sadly at Danny as she noticed a couple streams of tears trail down his face. She walked over and embraced him. "I'm right here little brother. No matter what happens I'll always be on your side, okay?"

She couldn't help but smile when she felt her brother's arms wrap around her and hold her tight again.

After a moment of silent bliss, Danny spoke, "I think I figured out what Clockwork was trying to tell me."

"What?"

"I… I think it's about time… I tell mom and dad the truth."

Both siblings were quiet until Jazz spoke up, "Only if you think you're ready, Danny. I'll be right beside you."

Danny nodded next to her head. "I think if I keep telling myself that I could spare them some pain… If they happened to still love me as their son regardless of what I am… and harmed me they might never forgive themselves."

"Danny, they'll always love you. Mom and dad may be ghost hunters, but that doesn't come before being a parent in their eyes. We'll do it together if you think you're ready."

Danny parted from Jazz as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of his mother coming up the stairs, then the easy to detect, even for Jazz, sound of their father coming up the stairs.

Danny looked at his sister as he heard the doorknob jiggle slightly.

"Yeah I think I'm ready."

* * *

 **So what do you guys think? Here's the full challenge as MagnusVolcanus wrote it:**

 **Winter King: Ghost Portals go through not only space, but time as well. When Team Phantom takes a short cut through a natural portal when the Fenton Portal is down, they end up in the Ghost Zone, 1,000 years in the future. The frozen pathways make navigating easier, but when they come upon a citadel of ice, they begin to worry. Inside, Danny has lived for all this time all but alone, never truly a part of anything anymore. He long since sealed himself away, not trusting even himself with his power when it grew so great he could freeze the stars themselves.**

 **So I did tweak it ever so slightly, but I think I kept pretty darn close to the challenge.**

 **Anyways:**

 **If anyone has cool challenge ideas or would like to check out what I have on the list so far, check my profile page. As a final note: Any challenge ideas PMd or Reviewed to me should stick to the list of fandoms listed on my profile page as well, seeing as the challenges are ones I find interesting and would like to see/read myself.**

 **List:**

 **Pokemon**

 **Legend of Zelda**

 **Danny Phantom**

 **The Secret Trio (DP, American Dragon: Jake Long, RC9GN)**

 **Young Justice / Teen Titans / Justice League**

 **Yu Yu Hakusho**

 **Inuyasha**

 **Rurouni Kenshin**

 **Shadow of the Colossus**

 **Super Smash Bros.**

 **Fairy Tail**

 **And any crossover combination of this list!**

* * *

 **Thanks everyone for reading! And check out my other Danny Phantom works if you have the time or even my Pokemon stuff if you're a fan of that too!**

 **~NoSignal**


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